Music for All to Hear
by Soup in a Cup
Summary: When a pony from Manehattan is asked to perform a solo in Ponyville for a yearly festival, he meets many unique and kind ponies that he becomes close friends with.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

The apartment door swung open as a light blue earthpony stomped into the room. He rolled his saddlebags off his back and onto the floor and gave a loud and obnoxious sigh. The pony had a light blue skin tone, like the sky on a spring day. His light gray mane was pushed up into a faux hawk, while his tail was un-combed and wavy. His round eyes are an emerald green, like the leaves of an apple tree. His head was rectangular, like most earthpony males. On his flank was a measure of notes, a quarter note, eighth note, and a rest, which resembled his talent in music.

The earthpony walked to his bed with his head down. A look of despair and anger covered his face. He lied on his well-made bed and looked at his largest saddle bag, a dark brown bag that was long enough to cover his side from neck to flank. He slowly walked to the bag and pulled out a paper. The paper was a complex piece of music for a piano player. He studied it for a minute and lazily dropped it into the bag once again.

"How in the world can those ponies play so well?" he said. "It's just unreal to me." He looked out the window to see the streets of Manehattan, filled with ponies of all kinds. He sighed once again, leaving a patch of fog on his window. He lifted his quill with his teeth and traced a face on the window with the tip of the dry feather. He looked at his artwork and chuckled. He strolled to his door, ready to go out into the town for some lunch with his friends, when a letter slid under the gap in his door.

"I got some mail for you, Treble!" called the voice. The voice sounded familiar. When he opened the door, he saw the local mailman, Speedy, at his door. The pegasus smiled at him.

"Good evening, Speeds. Is the mail business...uhh...busy?" asked Treble.

The dark green pegasus chuckled. "Eh, ya know. Same old, same old." He glanced at the letter he slid into Treble's room, and a surprised look appeared on his round face. "Oh man. That there letter is from Canterlot's Arts and Cultural Center. It could be important, for all we know." he nodded and started to walk away from Treble.

Treble snatched the letter up in his mouth and gentle kicked the door shut. He walked to his desk and grabbed his letter opener. He sliced the edge of the letter open and slid the pieces of paper out with the blunt edge of the blade. He unfolded the first piece of paper, which was a copy of an advanced piece of music. After looking over the parchment, he noticed that it was a song for the Sunstand Festival, a festival hosted every first day of summer at Canterlot. He made a confused look and slid the other paper into his point of view with his hoof. There was a red sticker that kept the paper folded in two parts. He pulled the sticker off with his teeth and unfolded the paper. The paper said:

_Dear Treble of Manehattan,_

_The Canterlot Art and Cultural board of directors have noticed your talent in the art of music, mainly your performance in the Hearth's Warming Festival in Manehattan last December, and we would be delighted for you to perform a piano solo (See other paper) for the Sunstand Festival this year. The festival will be hosted in Ponyville this year, and with a lack of attractions available for this year's festival, we'd appreciate it if you would perform for us on this day. We await for your response._

_From,_

_Redjack, head of the Canterlot Art and Cultural Center_

Treble looked up from the letter with his green eyes wide open. His mouth slowly opened, as if to say something, but he just couldn't find the words to describe how...shocked he was at the moment. He grabbed his quill and ink and began to write a letter. After about ten minutes of writing, he folded the parchment and stuffed it into a pink envelope. He grabbed the letter with his mouth and ran to the door, opening it with a quick kick. He looked across the hallway to see Speedy walking by once again. Treble quickly walked to the mailman with a smile on his face.

"Speeds! I need you to deliver this letter as soon as possible!" exclaimed Treble. He dropped the letter into Speedy's now empty bag.

"I would ask ya what the letter said, but I think that face explains much more than I need ta' know." said the pegasus. He closed the bag and walked to the other end of the hall. "I'll get your letter delivered before sundown."

Treble smiled at Speedy and nodded. As Speedy walked down the stairs at the end of the hallway, Treble walked back into his room and closed the door. He jumped onto his bed and shoved his face into his snow white pillow and yelled as loud as he could. He's never felt so alive! This is what he had wanted for years, ever since he discovered his talent in music. At last, he get's to be recognized as a master of the art of music. He whipped the tears from his eyes and looked out the window to see Speedy flying east, back to Manehattan's post office. He giggled and ran back to his desk to start studying the letter.

Treble looked up quickly after he came along a series of questions.

_Wait. Where is this Ponyville? And where will I get my own piano for this? I mean, I always use Manehattan's band's piano for concerts and recitals._

Treble looked up from his desk and into his framed Equestria map. He looked closely at it and saw a small dot between Canterlot and Manehattan labeled as Ponyville.

"Ah, THAT'S where Ponyville is. Not too far, I guess. I could just take the train there to save some time." he lifted the side of his lip into a half grin and nodded. He put the letter, the piece of music, his quill and ink, and his favorite pair of sunglasses into his saddlebags and began to walk out his apartment door. He giddily walked to the end of the hallway and down the stairs. He saw his neighbor, Flowerpetals, walking up the stairs as well. He smiled at her, and she responded with a similar smile.

When Treble opened the door to Manehattan, he began his walk to the Manehattan Railroad and Carriage Port to get a one way ticket to Ponyville, where he will play in front of hundreds of ponies for the Sunstand Festival within a few weeks.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

The train came to a halt at the Ponyville station. Treble raised his head from the small pop-out desk in front of his chair. After three hours of traveling and studying his paper, he fell asleep on his tray table. He rubbed the sleep from his eyes and look out the window to see dark clouds forming in the sky. The intercom made a sharp beeping noise four times. An old mare's voice came over the speakers, sounding eager to finish the trip.

"Attention passengers. Our current stop is Ponyville, home of the Sunstand Festival this year. We will continue our trip to Canterlot in thirty minutes." said the voice. The speakers clicked off and the passengers stirred, ready to move on.

Treble, along with about ten other ponies, stood up and began to walk out. Treble didn't recognize any of the faces, although there was one white unicorn with a flowing purple mane who he recalled seeing in Canterlot a few months ago. Treble look at her, then looked down to see a smaller white unicorn following her, but this one had a brighter, but poofier purple mane. She looked up at Treble and gave him a cheery smile. He responded likewise with a tired, but happy smile. The older pony shifted the bag she was carrying and continued to walk towards the exit of the train.

As Treble began to walk down the steps and onto the sidewalk, he tripped on a well-sized rock and tripped, dropping his bag and his music sheet. He grunted and began to pick up his bag and paper, when the small unicorn from before looked at the sheet of music and picked it up with magic. Treble glanced up at the little pony to see her humming the tune to the solo. He was almost surprised by how accurate and spot-on she was on the notes. She lowered the paper to see Treble looking down at her with a surprised look on his face.

"Oh! This is your's isn't it?" the little unicorn asked. She used her magic to place the paper in the opened pocket of Treble's saddlebag. "Sorry, I was just looking at it, I promise." She gave an assuring smile to the earthpony.

Treble smiled down at the unicorn. "It's ok, I know you wouldn't do that." He looked back at the paper in his left saddlebag, then back to the unicorn. "You hummed that song perfectly, and you just now saw it." Treble gave her a suspicious look. "How?"

The little pony giggled at him. "I didn't think it was perfect. I've heard that song a few times, and I just remembered how it went." She shrugged and began to quietly hum the tune again.

After she finished the first few measures, Treble had a dumbstruck look on his face. "That's exactly how it goes! You have a talent for singing, you know."

The small unicorn looked up at Treble again after glancing back behind her to see the taller white unicorn beginning to walk towards them. "That's what all my friends say, but I don't really like to sing all that much. I guess it's-"

"Sweetie Belle! I've told you not to talk to strangers." the grown unicorn said. She looked at Treble with an apologetic look in her eyes. "I'm very sorry, sir. My little sister is rather bothersome at times."

Treble chuckled at her. "Oh no, I dropped a few things and she helped me pick them up. I enjoyed talking with her." Treble looked at the small unicorn, Sweetie Belle that is. She was behind the dark purple haired unicorn. She grinned at Treble and walked in front of the older unicorn.

"Rarity, it's ok. He's a nice guy!" Sweetie Belle explained. "In fact, he's a musician like mom was."

Rarity looked down at Sweetie Belle and raised an eyebrow. "Is that so?" She looked back up at Treble and gave him a small smile. "What do you play? My mother played a violin when she was a young filly."

Treble nodded at her with interest. "I play the piano, but I can also play the trombone and a little bit of violin as well." he remembered seeing her at Canterlot a few months ago. "Were you at Canterlot a few months ago? I know that is an odd question, but I think I saw you walking through the streets once."

Rarity nodded. "I was. I got to stay at the one of the castle's suites. Have you ever been to one of them? They're so divine!"

He shook his head. "No, I'm not in first class. I barely managed to get a seat in the trains, for goodness sake!" The three ponies shared a laugh at his response.

Rarity looked down at Sweetie Belle and then to the clock on the top of the train station's roof. "Oh dear. I'm sorry, but we need to be on our way. I hope to see you again!" The two unicorns began to walk west.

"Goodbye!" called Treble. He watched them walk towards the town and turned around to see the train had left while they were talking. Treble began to think of what he needed to do before the festival.

_So...I'm here in Ponyville, that's a good start, _he thought. _Now I need to stop bye the hotels and rent a room. Let's see... _He pulled out his Ponyville brochure and looked through the small map on the back of it. He saw a square south of the train station that was labeled "Hotels." He looked towards the road heading south and began to walk down it.

Treble dropped his saddlebags in the corner of his hotel. The room was small, which reminded him of his apartment back in Manehattan. He began to unpack his belongings, when he remembered an important detail: he doesn't have a piano to use. He began to worry about this problem.

_I can't afford to buy a piano right now, let alone one that's good enough to use for the Sunstand Festival! _Treble began to think of ways to get a piano. _I could check to see if they'd let me borrow one for the festival. Now that I think of it, they'd probably have one for me to use. But I need to be one hundred percent sure. _He looked at the letter he got from Canterlot again, which didn't state whether the festival would cover this important detail. _I'll go check to see if there's a store nearby. I'm pretty sure they'd at least allow me to rent one for one night for a very low price._

Treble walked out of his hotel room and out of the building to see ponies of all kinds around. He saw earthponies, unicorns, and pegasi everywhere. Manehattan didn't have many pegasi, since the citizens of Cloudsdale normally traveled to Manehattan to clear the skies every week. He began to walk around the town square in search for stores or shops that could help him.

After about twenty minutes of searching, he began to give up hope when he saw a poster on a light post. The poster had a picture of a piano, which instantly caught Treble's attention.

_1950s Ebony Piano for sale. One hundred and sixty bits. Visit Sweet Apple Acres Farm for more details._

"Perfect!" exclaimed Treble. He looked around to make sure nobody was staring at him. Nobody seemed to notice his obvious shout of joy. He chuckled and looked at his map to see where the farm was. After finding it as one of the highlights of the town, he circled it with his quill and began to trot down to Sweet Apple Acres.


End file.
